


Incident of the Needing Heart

by AllTrekkedUp



Category: Rawhide (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Crushes, Erections, Hand Jobs, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romance, Slow burn Pete/Mushy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:22:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTrekkedUp/pseuds/AllTrekkedUp
Summary: Rowdy Yates is thinking about leaving the drive because of his feelings for his boss.  But Gil Favor feels just the same and when they get together it will change a lot of things for the both of them.
Relationships: Gil Favor/Rowdy Yates, Pete Nolan/ Mushy Mushgrove
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. Birthday

It was yet another hot and dusty day on the Shawnee Trail for the drovers headed for the end of the line in Missouri. Though not for everyone was it the same, Rowdy Yates, ramrod of the drive, was troubled with feelings and heavy of mind as he rode right flank. He had been in this state for several days and was trying to deal with this on his own to no avail, sighing, he just naturally headed in for night camp when Teddy had passed him and given the word that the wagons had just stopped. Perhaps he shouldn't have, and maybe the boss would come looking for him, but he didn't feel much like continuing to work that day. When he got to camp he saw Wishbone and Mushy just starting to get supper on, Hey Soos tying up the remuda, he handed off Fox to the wrangler and walked over to sit down by a tree, pushing his hat down to shade his eyes, he took his stampede string and started to chew on it, mulling over his problem ever more, he didn't hear someone approach him until he heard a voice speak.

"You ailing?" Wish asked.

Rowdy looked up at him, the short trail cook had his hands on his hips as he looked down at the young ramrod. "No. I ain't ailing. Why?" he asked.

"Well this makes the forth day in a row you've come into camp either early or first. I figure you're either sick and tryin' to hide it or you got a bad saddle sore," Wish declared.

"Well it ain't neither of those. I'm okay, I just...I got a lot on my mind right now, Wish," Rowdy said, looking down again.

Wish's face softened and his stance changed. "Well, you can talk to me anytime if you're of a mind too. Just as a precaution I'm gonna fix you some ginger tea, calm your stomach while you're worryin' over your problems," he said.

"Thanks, Wish," Rowdy said, he knew better than to argue, besides, ginger tea wasn't so bad. He kicked a rock with the toe of his boot, thinking about how it happened and thinking on that he wasn't sure. He just recalled noticing one day, noticing how he sat in the saddle, the way he stood, the warmth and safety his deep rich voice brought, even when he was yelling, the size of his hands as he buttoned his shirt, the beauty in his face, how he looked when he had a quiet smoke. The way he led the men, how hard he fought, his dedication to the job at hand and the decisions he made, the history and the mystery of him and noticing all this- he fell in love. He had worked for Gil Favor for a whole season now, this was his second drive with him in a year, and it wasn't halfway over yet but Rowdy was thinking about quitting. His feelings were getting deeper and harder to control, they were eating away at him, he thought maybe if he left and was away from Gil that that would be the end of it. 

"Here you go, Mr. Rowdy," Mushy's voice broke into his thoughts.

Rowdy took the cup. "Thanks, Mushy," he said. 

"If you want me too, I can sit with you while you drink it," Mushy said. He just liked being around Rowdy, he had a crush on the tall, handsome boy.

"Oh no you can't! Not while there's a supper to be cooked!" Wish said by the fire.

Rowdy smiled. "Thanks for the offer, Mush," he said.

"Oh sure. Maybe later," Mushy said, and left to go do his job.

Rowdy sighed and took a sip of tea, it was steamy hot and spicy from the ginger, it warmed him all the way down. He could only think that he would have to quit the drive, for he saw no way that the feelings he carried would be returned.

****

Pete Nolan rode up to Gil Favor who was sitting on his horse off to the side of the herd, watching as they went by. Gil was lighting up a smoke as Pete came to a stop beside him, they both waited for the dust to settle before speaking. 

"Good graze ahead. Fair water. We shouldn't have any trouble," Pete said, he pushed his hat back and leaned forward in the saddle, hunched over to rest a little, his checkered shirt was unbuttoned to the third button, showing some chest hair and getting some much needed air to him.

"You a prophet?" Gil asked, sitting up straight, blowing smoke.

Pete grinned. "Not hardly," he answered.

"Then don't get my hopes up," Gil said, his eyes scanned the cattle.

Pete continued to smile and sat there a minute silent. "Oh, happy birthday, Gil," he said. He was one of the few that knew about the boss's birthday. 

"You remembered that did you? Well thanks," Gil said.

"If I remember right, this be thirty six, ain't it?" Pete asked.

"That's right. Catching up to you, fella," Gil gave a half smile around his smoke.

"Yeah. We been friends a good spell," Pete said.

"I don't know...birthdays never bothered me before now. But lately I been feeling like time's running out on me, trail's getting longer, bedroll's awful cold at night," Gil said, he kept his eyes on the horizon as he spoke.

"I know exactly what you mean," Pete said, he too, looked off.

"I just feel like it's time to get what I want, before it's too late. Only that that's not so easy. If that makes any sense," Gil said, slightly smiling.

"I think I know what you mean. I got the same kinda feeling, have had for a while now," Pete said.

"Well, here's to us getting what we want," Gil said, motioning his cigarette toward Pete.

Pete nodded with a smile. "You reckon Wish's got camp ready?" he asked.

"I told him to go ahead, so he should by now," Gil said.

"What say we mosey on over there?" Pete asked.

Gil nodded and lead the way. By the time they got there supper was being dished out and night was coming down, they got in line for a plate of food and Gil scanned over the men that were already eating. He noticed Rowdy sat there with nothing but a cup, when after a second their eyes met, Rowdy seemed to get choked and started coughing. Wish went over to beat him on the back, Gil kept his eyes trained on him until he quit and when their eyes met again Rowdy took a gasping breath that caused Wish to start checking him over. Gil looked away but strained his ears to hear what was being said, he didn't want to outwardly display his concern, though concerned he was.

"I'm okay, Wish! I just...my heart skipped is all," Rowdy explained.

"You been havin' this happen a lot? Is this what's been troubling you?" Wish asked, he took Rowdy's wrist and felt his pulse.

"No, no. This ain't it, this just happened, okay? I'm fine," Rowdy insisted. 

"Well...I'll take your word for it. But you go on to bed early, get some rest," Wish said, patting his shoulder.

Mushy was trying to get over to sit with Rowdy but Wish kept giving him things to do and by the time he was able to, Rowdy was going over to roll out his bedroll.

Gil stole a look whenever he could, something troubling his ramrod, he wondered what it could be? He felt deeply for Rowdy, he had started developing a loving feeling for the boy not long after he was hired on. But he couldn't say anything, he didn't want to risk losing such a good drover over feelings, but now...well now that he knew Rowdy a little better he was about ready to lay it all on the table. He took a sip of coffee. Yeah, soon he would tell him.


	2. River

Rowdy was up early that next morning, he had tossed and turned most of the night, partly from his ever active mind and partly because it hadn't cooled off any in the late hours and judging by the south wind blowing their way it would be another hot one. He wiped a hand across his face and felt the stubble there, he didn't feel like shaving though he knew he needed too. He put on his hat and took some leftover coffee out of the pot and watched the sun rise before anybody else got up, though as the evening before Wish and Mushy were working on a meal. Wish kept throwing looks Rowdy's way, puzzled about what was going on in that head of his, he didn't say anything but handed the ramrod a biscuit as he mounted his horse and went on out to the herd. About thirty minutes later everyone was awake and yawning during their first cups of coffee, the drovers on nighthawk were coming in to eat and their fresh replacements were hurrying to finish.

"Where's Rowdy?" Gil asked as he sat his plate down beside him and took up his coffee.

"Went out to the herd half an hour ago," Wish informed.

"Rowdy? Go out early?" Pete asked, not believing.

"That's right. He went out to actually do some work, which is more than I can say for you, Pete Nolan!" Wish fussed.

Pete grinned and winked at Mushy who was refreshing his coffee, Mushy smiled as Wish watched the exchanged.

"Why don't you go do some that work," Wish suggested, giving Pete a look.

Pete took a long drag on his coffee. "Yeah. Reckon I better," he said, getting up.

Gil watched him mount up and leave, then he turned his gaze to Wish. "I...happened to overhear you talking to Rowdy last night. Is everything alright?" he asked in a low voice that only Wish could hear.

"I don't know. I figure when he's ready he'll talk to somebody. What I do know is that it sure is weighing on him heavy," Wish said, taking Gil's plate and moving on.

Gil thought a few minutes on what could be the trouble with his ramrod, he wanted to talk with him. 'Maybe tonight,' he thought. When he mounted up the wagons were ready to roll and they got back on the trail, dust rising with the sun and the heat was making the beeves move slower, they were really having to push them. 

Rowdy was up at point, riding a head of the herd slightly, he saw a small river that looked too be about a mile or two on, the thoughts of getting some cool water on his person sounded very good at the moment. He urged Fox forward and did a bit of hard riding to reach the river before herd, he went down stream aways and tied Fox to a tree, he then stripped down to nothing and got in the water. Once he had adjusted to the water temperature he sighed in contentment, this was the best he had felt in days, the river was narrow but it was deep and relatively clear for such a dusty country, the treed and bushes along the sides of it were lush and green they seemed to be spared by the late summer sun. Rowdy allowed himself to relax and closed his eyes, letting time get away from him.

***

Gil had been to every position in the herd but Rowdy was no where to he found, after asking around a bit it was determined that the last time he was seen was on point, but when Gil checked he found no one. He felt a sting of panic at not finding him, when they got to the river the horrible thought occurred to him that maybe Rowdy had come on ahead and something had happened to him as he was crossing the river, his horse got frightened crossing and threw him and he went under and didn't come back up. With this in mind he went down stream as the beeves finished slower crossing just to have a look around, after a few minutes he saw Fox and stopped and dismounted. He saw clothes hanging in the bushes, he picked up long underwear, pants and a shirt and looked down to see socks and boots on the ground, he then peeked past the bushes to see Rowdy in the water, washing his face.

"Well, well, you having a nice soak, princess?" Gil's deep voice made Rowdy jump and he immediately blushed at being found by his boss.

"Oh...Mr. Favor," was all he could get out.

"Yeah. That's my name alright. I been lookin' all over for you, herd's about across, why don't you come out and rejoin us?" Gil asked with a smirk.

"Oh, sure," Rowdy said, he started for the shore but stopped when he was out to the waist. "Well, you gonna turn around?" he asked.

Gil grinned. "Why? You bashful?" he asked.

Rowdy gave him a look and Gil chuckled as he turned his back so Rowdy could come on out, Gil started handing him his things. "I'm sorry, boss. I wanted to get in the water for a while but I guess I didn't realize how long I'd away," Rowdy said, he had to work at getting his clothes pulled onto his wet body, perhaps the hardest was getting his boots on.

"I was...I was looking for you. I didn't know what had happened to you," Gil said, he nearly admitted to being worried.

"Well, like I said, I'm sorry," Rowdy said, he came out of the bushes and found Gil only inches away. Their eyes met and Rowdy's mouth came open slightly, his heart quickened in his chest and Gil smelled like sweat and dirt but it was an attractive smell on him.

Gil swallowed, Rowdy's eyes were so captivating, his bushy hair was wet on the ends, he found that he had to resist the urge to touch it. "Uh, we need to get back," he finally said.

"Yeah," Rowdy said, heart pounding as he turned to get his hat off of his saddle horn and put it on.

They rode back to rejoin the herd, now safely across the river, they split up and made several more miles that day before resettling beside the trail for the night. Rowdy thought about his boss finding him most of the day, Gil's eyes, the way he looked at him he could almost swear that... 'No. It's just what I want to be so,' he thought. He ate his supper that evening with Toothless and Collins, but he remained preoccupied and found himself nodding as the men talked, he did the same when Mushy came around with his smile and the coffee pot. He got his bedroll out and fixed it behind one of the wagons, he sat down on it and started trying to take his boots off, a task proving to be harder than usual.

"That's what you get for putting wet socks in your boots," Gil spoke from above him.

Rowdy looked up. "Yeah. I guess you're right," he said.

"Here. Let me help you," Gil said, he took Rowdy's leg and started to pull, he kept it up until he got the boot off and then did the other one.

Rowdy was shocked at his offer and when he felt those hands on him he felt a warmth in the pit of his stomach, blood leaving hid head going downward, he only hoped Gil didn't notice his state. 

"There ya go," Gil said, he gave a smile and looked back at him.

"Thanks," Rowdy said, trying to turn so his hard on wouldn't be noticed.

"Sure. Sleep good," Gil said.

Maybe Rowdy was losing it, but he thought he heard a certain softness in Gil's voice. He watched after him as he walked away with the feeling that it would be a very long night.


	3. Cuts

Rowdy laid in his bedroll unable to sleep, all he could think about was Gil and his present condition wasn't helping matters. After laying there for an hour or less he finally decided to get up and walk it off, after making a loop around the edge of camp he came in closer to fire where he saw Gil still up, sitting by the fire having a smoke, elbows on his knees, looking as if he was in deep thought. Rowdy found himself caught up in looking at his boss, just outside the realm of light, but it drew him in and his feet started taking him to the fire, to the man he couldn't seem to stop thinking about. 

When he got close enough Gil looked up and gave a slight smile. "Rowdy, I'm glad you're here," he said.

Rowdy sat down across the fire from Gil. "Really?" he asked.

"Sure. Funny thing about this time of night, makes a man feel more at ease than the daytime hours, gets you in the mood to think when you can't sleep," Gil said, looking around at the night.

"Yeah...I been thinkin' a lot lately, boss," Rowdy said, biting the inside of his lip, gaging Gil's reaction to his words.

"Oh? What about?" Gil causally asked.

"Well, I've been thinking about leaving the drive," Rowdy spoke. Hearing it out loud made it seem so offical.

Gil looked over at him with a mix of fear and confusion. "What? Why?!" he asked.

Rowdy looked down. "Well, I'm going through some personal things and...I don't know if I can continue...here with it," he said.

Gil felt very conflicted, this was something he had never considered that Rowdy would be thinking about. "Well...can you talk to me about it? I mean, you have my confidence, I hope you know that by now," he said.

"I know. It's just that, it's a hard thing to talk about, you know?" Rowdy asked. He stole a look at his boss whom he found staring right at him.

"I understand. But I have also realized that if you hold on to a thing too long that by the time you get around to talking about it, it can be too late. I don't want that to happen, I have some things to get off of my chest too," Gil explained.

"Things that you want to tell me?" Rowdy asked, heart pounding in his chest.

"Yes that's right. But you can go first," Gil said.

Rowdy took a deep breath and balled his hands into fists on his knees- this was it- he was going to say it. But the sound of pounding hooves caused them to look towards the herd and they saw Quince coming in with some speed.

"Beeves are gettin' restless, boss. There's a storm coming our way and they smell it," Jim said upon coming to a stop.

Gil gave a deep sigh. "Alright. We'll wake up some of the men and join you," he said. He gave Rowdy an apologetic look as they both got up and headed for the herd.

It was fifteen minutes before the storm hit, but when it did it hit with force. Thunder, lightning and rain, wind straight from the bowels of hell, it took every man they had to hold the cattle and they got soaked to the bone staying on the all night rain. By dawn the whole crew was exhasted and ready for breakfast, no one was talking to much, they knew they had to eat and get on the trail again and they weren't exactly looking forward to it. Rowdy forced his breakfast down because he knew if he didn't he would be straved later on but he was so tired he didn't even taste the food. Gil was standing by the wagons eating, he wanted to get back out to the herd as soon as possible. Mushy came to sit by Rowdy, he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to talk so they just sat together eating. 

When most of the drovers were done Wish and Mushy started packing things up, Quince and Scarlet were still sitting together, leaning on one another, falling asleep when Wish saw them he went over to them and clanged two pots together in front of their faces, causing both of them to fall backward to the ground. 

"Gaul darn, Wishbone! What's the idea?!" Joe asked, rubbing his head.

"Well in case you haven't noticed we're moving out. If you don't want to be left behind you better do your sleeping in the saddle!" Wish fussed.

Jim picked up his hat. "Just might do that," he said as he and Joe mounted up.

Sometime after they pulled out and got going Rowdy found himself dosing off, he couldn't seem to stop it from happening, his eyes closed and his head fell to his chest, the next thing he knew he felt Fox jerk under him and he hit the ground, jarring him awake. Looking around he realized that Fox had stepped in a hole, he was grazing a little ways off from where Rowdy had landed under a tree, he looked fine, Rowdy sat up and looked at himself, the side of his right forearm was cut and bleeding from where he had hit some sharp rocks.

Gil saw Fox riderless and went over to investigate, when he saw that Rowdy was bleeding he got down quickly and got a bandanna out of his saddle bags. "Are you alright other than this?" he asked, he got down on his knees and started wrapping the cut.

"Yeah I think so. I must have fallen asleep when Fox stepped in that hole, I'm sorry," Rowdy said.

"Well, we've all had a hard night, I just hate that you hurt yourself," Gil said, he finished tying the make shift bandage and gave his ramrod a once over. "You get to Wishbone, let him doctor that. You sure you're not dizzy or anything?" he asked.

"No. I'm fine," Rowdy said, smiling.

Gil looked at him a moment more. "About last night...I have never been very good at this sort of thing, making these kinds of confessions I guess they are called," he said.

"What would that be?" Rowdy asked, his eyes studying Gil's face.

"Well..." Gil trailed off and his hand moved up to touch Rowdy's hair.

Rowdy smiled and swallowed, barely having time to close his eyes as Gil leaned in, they kissed under the shade of a cottonwood tree.


	4. Problem

Rowdy was wonderfully breathless by the time the kiss ended, he couldn't stop smiling as he looked at Gil, who moved his hand down to Rowdy's face, thumb rubbing along Rowdy's cheekbone. "I've fallen in love with you, Rowdy. It took me longer than I wanted it to to tell you. I had hoped maybe that's what you have been thinking about too," Gil said.

Rowdy hesitantly lifted his hand to lay it on Gil's face, the warm skin sent a shiver down him. "It is. Only I figured there was no way that you would feel the same way towards me," he said, he dropped his hand, suddenly feeling awkward. 

Gil gave a chuckle from deep in his chest, he stroked Rowdy's cheek once more before taking his hand away. "You read me all wrong," he said. He looked at Rowdy lovingly, Rowdy had never been looked at in such a way, the gaze was so intense that he looked away. "I have so much I want to talk to you about. But it'll have to wait till later, we have to get back out there before the whole herd passes up by," he said, he got up and helped Rowdy up as well. 

"Do as I say now, have Wish look at that cut," Gil said, he bent over and picked up Rowdy's hat and placed it on his head with a smile before mounting up and riding away.

Rowdy couldn't believe what had just happened, he checked Fox and he was fine, he then went forward to find Wish in the chuck wagon. "Hey, Wish. Can you look at this?" he asked, riding up to Wish's side of the wagon and holding up his arm.

"What did you do?" Wish asked.

"Well uh, I fell off my horse and cut my arm on some rocks," Rowdy said, scratching his chin as he explained with a sheepish smile.

"Mushy, crawl back in there and get me my doctor bag. You must be gettin' as clumsy as him!" Wish addressed first Mushy and then Rowdy. 

"I guess I am," Rowdy grinned.

Wish dug through his bag for some bandages and whiskey to clean the wound with. "That's the first time I've seen you smile in quite a spell. How is that problem you've got?" he asked as he poured in the whiskey.

Rowdy gave a hiss at the sting from it. "Ain't a problem no more, Wish. In fact I reckon I'm the happiest man in the whole west!" he said. 

"Are ya now? Well that eases my mind, now I only have to worry about keeping Mushy straight," Wish said.

Mushy smiled at Rowdy.

"Oh now, Mush is a good fella. He does you good work," Rowdy said.

"Well thank you, Mr. Rowdy," Mushy grinned.

"Go on back to the beeves, Rowdy Yates! 'Fore you make this block head too big for his britches!" Wish fussed.

Rowdy grinned and went back to the herd, his day floated by as he thought about getting to talk with Gil that evening. 

***

When night came around Rowdy took his plate and sat down a little ways away from the others, when he saw Gil ride in he smiled, unable to stop himself.

Gil brought his food over to sit with Rowdy. "Hey," he spoke.

"Hey, boss," Rowdy said.

"Hey now, if we're going to be together you're going to have to start calling me Gil," he said.

"Okay, Gil," Rowdy grinned.

"That's more like it. Tell me, have you ever been in a relationship like this before? With a fella I mean?" Gil asked. 

Rowdy looked down at his plate. "Once, during the war. I guess it really wasn't a relationship, but I've been with a fella before, yeah. Thinking about it, I've never really done any courting, none serious, ya know?" Rowdy confessed.

"Yeah. Well I want you to know that I do love you, Rowdy. And I'm going to do my very best by you," Gil said seriously. 

Rowdy couldn't stop staring at him and it was still hard for him to understand that those words were coming out of his boss's mouth and that they were meant for him. "I love you too. I can't believe this is real," he said.

"It's real alright," Gil grinned.

"Listen, b- Gil. What about the men? I mean, do we tell 'em or what? What if they don't like that we're together?" Rowdy asked, suddenly concerned, looking around. 

"They'll figure it out soon enough, I plan on being with you as much as I can. As far as them nit liking it, well, they can always draw their pay and get out if it sticks in their craw that bad," Gil said.

"You're right, I guess," Rowdy said.

"Don't worry about what other people think. They're not the ones courtin'- we are. But I don't think it'll be a problem," Gil said. 

Rowdy smiled and Gil put his hand over on Rowdy's knee. They were too caught up in each other to notice all the eyes turning their way, not the least of which was Mushy over by the chuck wagon, the sight og which made him feel sick. 

"Well, I guess Rowdy did get his problem worked out. About time too, I know the boss has been lonely for a spell," Wish said. He stood slicing bread and Pete was leaning against the wagon eating his supper. 

"He sure has. They can get on good if they can both control their tempers," Pete smiled.

"We can get ready for some humdinger arguments that's for sure," Wish said.

"Um, Mr. Wishbone? Could I go sit down for a while? I don't feel so good," Mushy spoke up.

"What's wrong?" Wish asked, looking at his helper, trying to hide his worry.

"I just...I need to sit down, my head feels funny," Mushy lied.

"Well alright. I'll come and check on you in a minute," Wish said.

Mushy made a hasty retreat and went to sit down by the remuda where he couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Seeing Rowdy with Mr. Favor like that and hearing the things Wishbone and Pete said was too much for him. It wasn't long before he heard someone coming and he hurriedly wiped his face as who he figured to be Wishbone sat down beside him.

"It's not the end of the world you know."

Mushy looked over and to his surprise, saw Pete sitting there. "Mr. Nolan," he said.

"I uh, I know you had a real liking for Rowdy. But it's not the end of the world, even though it feels like that right now," Pete said, he sat there looking down at his boots while he spoke. 

Mushy was in a similar position. "It sure does feel like it, Mr. Nolan," he said.

"Pete, Mushy, call me Pete," he offered.

Mushy nodded. "I guess I should have known that somebody like Rowdy would never love somebody like me," he said mournfully.

"Somebody will come along for you some day, Mush," Pete said. 

"I sure wish they'd come along soon, Pete," Mushy said.

"They will. Maybe even sooner than you think," Pete said, giving a small smile.


End file.
